these are the key players to watch. will they do-or-die in 2013? david: no sector in the market is more affected by what happens in washington financial sector directly affected by the fed, by tax policy, etc., the financials had a turnaround as well. i think they are still generally negative. the dow is now negative, but just by a couple ticks. again the turnaround is story. financials in general today, tell us how they did. nicole: the one i would talk about that really represents what went on with the financials is bank of america. bank of america hit a 52 week high, sold off, was like a number one loser in if the dow, number two loser in the dow and then moved back and came up off the lows. so it shows you the financials really drive the market one way or another. you really get a good feel. david: bank of america is up over 100% this year even with today's loss. it has incredible turnaround. [closing bell ringing] shibani: the bells are ringing on wall street. it was a roller coaster ride of a day. let's take a look at how stocks

are finishing up. it's well on the fence here as to where we're going to close. the dow is lower right now. down about 20 points. the s&p 500 down just about 2 points. nasdaq also eking out a loss, 4.2 points and then the russell also ending the day in the red. david: it was just positive, the dow just moments ago, but it is the turnaround, 150 points since the story. also a trading day for oil, big rally in yesterday's session where it went up to $91 a barrel. crude was unable to hold on to the gains ending lower on fears of no deals in d.c. all of that late breaking news didn't really affect where oil closed. you see a little positive jump there right now. that's on the news that did come out of washington, but again, it closed at 2.30 down. shibani: also moving today, currencies the yen was a big mover. the currency continuing to decline against the u.s. dollar hitting a 27 month low against our currency.

japanese officials signalling that they would do anything basically they could to advance efforts to weaken the currency. a big story there as well. david: you think we're printing like crazy, wait till you see what the japanese do. as the markets crawl back the volatility index, losing all its gains after hitting its highest level since late july, remember when volatility is up, it usually means the market is down. for five months the vix has traded below its two decade historical average of 20. longest such streak in more than five years. but over the last month, it has rallied about 23%. but ending down for the day. shibani: a lot of uncertainty in today's markets. with the markets bouncing back and bouncinn around surrounding fiscal cliff talks and the clouds overhead, wouldn't it be nice to take a vacation, even better, one that's priced well, a bargain. coming up travelocity senior editor lets us in on deals for new year's eve and what's going to be hot for 2013.

looking forward to that. david: we just found out we will probably be working on new year's eve and so are the people in the white house. the president is back there, trading the heat of the sun in hawaii going to the heat in washington. steve forbes will be coming up later in the hour. shibani: we will tell you what drove the markets today with today's data down load. stocks gaining momentum in the last hour of trading crawling back from triple digit losses down about 150 points following reports that the house will return to washington on sunday, but that late rally wasn't enough to lift stocks into positive territory, with all three major indices closing lower for the fourth day in a row. materials, financials, amongst the day's top worst performing sectors i should say. new home sales surging to strongest level in more than two

years. sales jumping 4.4% from october to an annual rate of 377,000, more good signs that that housing sector much needed to improve the rest of the economy is finally getting a boost. and the number of americans filing new applications for unemployment aid falling to its lowest level in nearly four and a half years. initial claims dropping 12,000 to a seasonally adjusted 350,000 the week prior was revised up by a thousand. david: let's cover the markets in detail now with larry levin. he's in the pits of the cme. david trainer says we are headed for a market rally next year no matter what happens with the fiscal cliff. and we will also be told what stocks he thinks are undervalued right now. let's start with larry. we're glad we picked up from the 150 point loss. i'm glad about that. looks like there won't be a santa claus rally this year.

>> no, it doesn't look like it. we saw some pretty big down drafts today and earlier in the week. that's not what traders expect when we get into the last couple weeks of december. we usually have low volume rallies. we have done opposite. high volume drops in the market. today was a good example. recovered quite a bit but those points in the the chart have been made. the traders look at that and see the markets keep making lower lows and that makes them want to sell into the market and not buy it. shibani: david, i want to get your thoughts, you know, despite what's going on in and around the beltway, the gridlock that exists, you're still a believer in these markets. you believe in the markets forging ahead. tell me why you're so optimistic considering the swings we saw in just today's trading day alone. >> i think most of the events are behind us. i think the fiscal event is more a media event than it is a true economic issue. i think europe is behind us. unemployment is finding its footing. the housing market is finding its footing. so i think generally we have got clear sailing for 2013.

i don't think the market is going to skyrocket. i just don't think we're going to see the wild swings that we have seen the last couple of years. david: david, let me challenge you on that a little bit. tim, we will get to you in a second. you say most of the bad news is behind us, but what if we don't have a deal, and that's still a possibility, we go off the fiscal cliff and as most economists think, we go into a recession. i mean a recession is not priced into this market, is it? >> i think so. david: really? hold on a second, the last time we had a recession the dow went down. >> i don't think there's really many things they can do in congress to avoid a very slow growth economy. whatever they do, it is not going to cause the economy to grow like crazy. i don't think the market is pricing any any kind of major reversal. david: let me be precise here. you are saying specifically that if we go into a recession, a recession, a full-blown recession is not priced into

this market, correct? >> i think to be specific i don't really believe that we will ever go over the fiscal cliff into a full-blown recession. i think that's pretty much more political posturing and media hyperbole. i don't see that as an actual -- a practical possibility. they will figure something out. they won't send us over the cliff into recession oblivion. shibani: tim, i want to bring you in here, are you seeinggany upside potential in the markets? a lot of people are saying this is priced in. we were just talking about it. but i wonder if there is any possibility for gains? i mean we're seeing this temporarily when congress gives us an indication it is going to come back, we get a lift, but anything beyond that that we can look forward to over the next few days? >> well, i think over the next few days, you know, i would expect it to be probably volatile like it was today, but a lot of people doing some last-minute repositioning of their portfolios for tax reasons and otherwise, and i think that's going to continue.

but i agree with what was said prior. there's a lot of bad news priced into the markets. and prices are low. i'd be concerned if the markets were priced optimistically, as though we were growing faster and corporate profits were growing faster, but the market is priced pessimistically, not only in the u.s., but especially over in europe, so when the markets are priced low, future expected returns should be higher and we would look for 2013 to continue to be fairly good for markets. david: tim, you mentioned, quite correctly, that you make the most amount of money when good stocks, good companies are priced very low. as you say, overseas, particularly in europe, you have never seen prices this low on some stocks, particularly on real estate, how would you buy into that market? >> yeah, there aren't that many international reits available, and so the way we would purchase that would be in a very well diversified index fund that owns about 150 or 200 of the reits available worldwide and that way

you're getting access to all the reits can offer. they are yielding close to 6% in dividend pass-through. david: let's see the ticker by the way. producers, put up the ticker. go ahead, tim. >> sure. and so you get a very good yield because they're trading at relatively low prices, plus if inflation is high, you know, the properties themselves will increase, so we think that international real estate is priced very well for gains. shibani: larry, i want to bring you in here, some key numbers coming in. today we traded below 1400 on the s&p. i know that's something that you watch closely. any other technical -- technical landmarks, if you will, that we need to be paying attention to that could kick in buyers or sellers as we go over the next few days? >> that 1400 has to be the number one thing. the one thing to think about, we got below it but we will settle about 14 or 15 handles higher than that 1400 level.

it is really settlements that the traders behind me and i watch on a daily basis. if it settles below 1400, i think you would see a much weaker close. you also see a lot of people selling in thinking the market will continue on tomorrow. having this bounce today really kind of gave traders a little bit of confidence. saw a decent amount of buying from 1400 to where we are right now at 1415. but watch that 1400 tomorrow, if it comes in play and especially next week too. david: david, you are not a technical trader at all. you always look for value in companies. so -- and mcdonald's is one of the companies that you picked. what is it about mcdonald's in which you find so much value right now? >> mcdonald's has been one of the best-run companies in the world over the last 10, 15 years. we have seen the returns on invested capital, their margins, their profits go up significantly all the while taking the best shot that wendy's that starbucks that burger king can throw at them and all they do is become more profitable. to me, mcdonald's, people overlook how strong the merchandising, the distribution,

the advantages they have in their business. and when the stock is priced as if the -- [inaudible] -- i see a great value, great company trading at a big discount. david: we are looking at a three year chart, looks up but one year chart shows it coming down quite a bit. thank you very much, guys. we appreciate it. larry we're going to come back to you in a few minutes when the s&p futures close. we will see you then. >> thank you. shibani: we are just days away from major tax hikes hitting all of us, and we don't even have all of our lawmakers even back in washington, d.c. right now. but our own rich edson is there. he's there. where's everyone else? he's going to give us an indication on the latest on this high-stakes drama that's playing out. david: also fear of that cliff pushing the dow below 13,000 earlier today before recovering on news that the house is returning to work. coming up, we get you ready for a happy new year no matter what happens with the cliff. a chief investment officer

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david: the president's back at the white house and the senate met today for the first time since going on the holiday break. but seems like the political train is still heading for a cliff. shibani: taking all of us with it. so where are we flow? -- so where are we now, just days away from tax hikes. fox business's rich edson is live from the capitol. where are we rich? any closer or exactly where we were about 12 hours ago? rich: we're about 12 hours closer to the fiscal cliff as far as negotiations are concerned. the senate is in town. they are meeting but not working on anything fiscal cliff related. the house is coming back on sunday evening according to a republican source, eric cantor, the house majority leader making that announcement on a conference call just a couple of hours ago. so they will be in town. but still we're all waiting on

some type of agreement from congressional and perhaps the president, leaders, to have some type of framework for democrats and republicans to vote on. right now we're not there, and so far both sides have taken to blaming one another. >> the house of representatives is operating without the house of representatives. it's being operated with a dictatorship of the speaker, not allowing the vast majority of the house of representatives to get what they want. if the 250 would be brought up, it would pass overwhelmingly. >> we wanted an agreement. but we had no takers. the phone never rang. and so now here we are five days from the new year and we might finally start talking. rich: so senate democrats want the house to pass their proposal. it passed a couple of months ago. it extends all current tax rates for income amounts on families

of less than $250,000 a year. republicans say they want a new proposal from either the president or senate democrats to try to move this forward. they say that $250,000 proposal is not realistic, so it's one political match going on in washington right now. david: maybe it's the darkest hour before the dawn. let's hope and pray. rich: everything has to blow up a couple of times before they come together. usually that's how it goes in washington. hopefully we're in that stage right now. david: thank you for that observation. rich edson in d.c. well, the market did rally, it came out of its doldrums but did end in the red. let's go back to s&p futures. larry levin, does it look like it is going to trade down or up tomorrow morning? >> it looks like we will be up a little bit, certainly off of the lows that we saw below the 1400 level david. but i would watch that 1400 level tomorrow. only about 10 points away from it. it is in play in we drop a

little bit overnight. 1400 level to watch tomorrow. david: thank you larry. shibani: let's head back to the floor of the new york stock exchange where we find nicole tracking the stocks. nicole: a lot of the retailers came under pressure today. there's no doubt. take a look at the shares. but it is lower today thanks to a note from citigroup, the analyst says that there were a lot of discounts on the michael kors products and accessories and that they were even more so than black friday. that doesn't bode well for margins and revenue. as a result citigroup lowered their price target on michael kors to $60 from $68. they did maintain the buy. there's no doubt that michael kors remains a hot brand, a desired brand during the holiday season, but when you have to

discount like that, not a good sign. as a result that's why a lower price target on michael kors. shibani: not a good sign, but their rose gold watch is one of the hottest items out there. fyi. a little too late. david: we have more on the high-stakes game. steve forbes will be here. could we slip from slow growth to recession? stay tuned for steve forbes. shibani: up next, getting your portfolio ready for the new year. warren financial's chief investment officer shares his plays in the etf world for 2013. ♪

david: time for a quick speed read of some of the day's headlines. m&a activity rising to its highest level in four years this quarter. companies worldwide have announced 692 billion dollars in purchases in just the last three months of this year. blackstone backed sea world entertainment is filing for initial ipo that could raise 100 million dollars. the company intends to trade under the symbol of seas. ford is investing 773 million dollars in new equipment and expansion across six u.s. manufacturing plants in southeast michigan. the latest move is part of its commitment to invest 6.2 billion dollars in u.s. plants by 2015. and mexico's largest airline

ordering six 787 dreamliners from boeing with confirmation rights for four additional aircraft. the order is worth more than 1.4 billion dollars. and thousands of workers at 15 east coast ports are still threatening to strike if new deal on wages and container royalties is not reached. the white house says it is monitoring the situation and urges both parties to reach a deal quickly. and that is today's speed read. shibani: that's how it's done. david: that's how it's done. shibani: we are just four days away before the fiscal cliff deadline, and as many investors scramble to adjust their portfolios, we've got a money manager who says he's got three plays that could yield you 20% no matter what the fiscal cliff resolution ends up being. joining us now is randy warren, warren financial services cio. thanks for joining us. >> nice to be here. thank you. shibani: so right off the top, i would love to know, why is it that etfs you feel can be a little bit more resistant to the

waves coming in, the shockwaves coming out of d.c.? >> i think you go for some sectors that aren't necessarily in the crosshairs of what's going on in the house and in the senate right now. so i'm looking at things like the financial sector. it's been beaten down over the last few years. we all know about all the history that's gone on since 2007, 2008, some of the banks failed, some of the big banks failed and also the problems in europe. a lot of the banks had trouble in europe over the last couple of years. they are starting to rebound now. there's an opportunity for improvement in the financial sector. david: i want to pull you back a second randy before we talk about specifics and talk about when, you know, timing is everything. you can buy at the right time or wrong time. you have something called an event horizon index. 0 being the point at which you should go ahead full speed and buy a lot of stuff. 100, forget about it. you think we're at about 35 now which as you say is a yellow flag, so should we hold back on these purchases for a while

until they fix things in d.c.? >> well, if you really want to time it short-term, sure, you could hold back, but i think what's happening in d.c. is probably going to be resolved in the next few weeks. i mean, that's what we hear; right? so, you know, it's really trying to time it over the course of a couple weeks is very difficult. david: but maybe wait until at least -- for another couple of weeks; right? >> it wouldn't hurt; right? these seek t-- these sectors ar a little bit resistant to what's going on down there anyway. you saw the home building number, that was very very good. that sector is doing very well regardless of what's happening in washington. the xhb is a great way to play it, they own things like home depot, own lowe's, some homebuilders, whirlpool, things that go into homes. shibani: why would you choose to go with an etf versus picking out some of these names? when you pick a basket, you sometimes mute the overall performance that the individual names could have.

>> right. so if you picked the best ones out of that group, then sure you would do much better than picking the etf. but the etf is safer. you get a whole basket, so you are not exposed to the stock, a single stock risk, so if one stock has a problem, you know, the whole portfolio doesn't go down. shibani: so you like home building. i was also interested to learn that you also like biotech. that's a little unusual considering how risky that sector can be. >> that's for the -- people who want to take a little bit more risk. the biotech sector has been doing well. the small cap bio hasn't done as well as the big tech -- big cap biotech, but it is a good sector. they're making money. the big pharma is looking to biotech to basically be their pipeline of new drugs that are coming through, and we got a new elected democratic president who is, you know, putting through healthcare reforms, and that's going to expand the amount of people that can access -- david: let me bring you to a stock that was in the news today. bank of america, of course, some bad news today in terms of the

stock but up over 100% this year, 105% i think is the total if you look at a one year chart for bank of america. is it too late to get in on this stock? >> it is not too late. because bank of america was beaten down so badly over the last five years. i started recommending bank of america in august of 2011. so about a year and a half ago when it was about 6 bucks. david: we look at the beginning of the year it was about 5 bucks. >> right. it took a little time for it to take off. but 2012 began the recovery. and i think we've got at least another year or two to go in that recovery. shibani: how long are you talking about holding these, home building, etf, banking, biotech, are you long-term or short-term holder? >> longer term. i would recommend holding them for about a year and re-evaluate next year at this time whether or not you want to hold them for 2014. david: randy warren from warren financial service, great to see you. thank you for being here. >> thank you very much. david: senator harry reid says it looks like we are heading over the fiscal cliff and now vice president biden is actually

making jokes, jokes about the fiscal cliff, but a recession would be no joke for any of us. coming up next, find out if steve forbes still holds out any hopes for a deal and what he thinks should be in it. shibani: plus, we've got the latest last minute travel deals out there coming your way. get ready to pack your bags. there are some great deals still to be had new year's eve. ♪

david: now we realize we're mixing metaphors here so bear with us. as we wait to go over the fiscal cliff, we've been reminded of the brief moment right before the titanic went into the deep. there is certain calm, even though all hell is breaking loose. and just like the titanic going down, this fiscal cliff tragedy was avoidable. last year the president said several times that we don't need any tax rate increases, even, going so far in his 2011 budget to recommend lowering all tax rates in get rid of deductions. now he is willing to send us into thent dids of recession because he won't give up on tax rate increases. many would fault the republicans. no matter who is to blame, it is the stubbornness of

politicians trying to get ahead by risking our jobs and our lives is what is wrong with the way this country is run. it has got to stop. but it appears it won't stop until they have sent us over the cliff and into the deep. for more, we turn to a man who has been warning us all about the folly of this for some time, former presidential candidate and chairman of forbes media, steve forbes. steve, by the way any doubt if we do over a cliff, we'll go into recession? >> i think the economy is going to be in a slowdown any way. already business decisions have been put off, david because of uncertainty surrounding this, not to mention what will be happening with obamacare. we're in for rough waters any way, talking about the titanic. the question is how deep will it be? if we go over the cliff will it be a couple weeks before they reach a deal? will they be able to mate it retroactive? will they go a few more weeks? president obama feeling strong hand he can browbeat the republicans and make

them crawling back is what i think he can do right now? it in terms of the revenue even if he got his way it is five cents on the dollar. david: we'll talk about that in a second. i want to squeeze you on this there are a lot of economists who say yes, if all taxes go up no doubt we'll go into recession. >> right. david: there will be less spending. producers have less money to hire people. everybody will keep all their money in their pockets. >> short term you overlook the damage done to the military about the so-called sequestration, that reduction in overall spending will have a little bit of good impact. but there is no question, we're following the path europe followed, japan followed, raising taxes in the face of wobbly economy. we haven't done anything like this on scale since early 1930's. david: even the president admitted not too long ago anything you want to do in slow economy or certainly in recession is raise tax rates. >> this is ideology. about income equality punishing those who are

successful and small businesses that employ 50 or more people. david: this is about political ego is it not? >> yes. david: they're already engining to say the republicans will get blamed or democrats will get blamed. it is political ego but they're playing with our lives, with our futures, with our jobs. >> a plague on all houses. if they want revenue, american companies have $1.7 trillion in cash parked overseas. why not do what we did eight years ago? lower the tax to five, six, 7%. eight years ago we got several hundred billion returning to the united states. david: president will not do it. we asked advisor gene sperling on this show. absolutely not. they're not going to do it. >> why haven't republicans hammered home that theme? david: why haven't they. >> good question. poor unimaginative leadership. david: they're in the beltway mentality how to out maneuver the other guy without thinking about long term implications to us. >> why didn't they define

the debate. they knew after the election they knew it was coming up. they go to the sheep and the slaughterhouse and hope they're not sheared too much. david: they don't send themselves to the slaughterhouse. we're going to the slaur house. president says how much new revenue he needs. the most he will get taxing all the rich people assuming they don't move their money to the cayman islands is 100 billion a year. look what happened in 2009 when we went into recession. look what happened to revenues. put that up on the screen. revenues in 2009 went into recession. we lost $400 billion in one year and we didn't regain it until 2011. we still haven't regained the amount we had in 2007 because we're growing so slowly. if we have recession, we have a $400 billion loss to the treasury. the president is going to be even more in debt than we are now. >> this is where the republicans missed a huge opportunity the republicans said this shouldn't be a debate whose taxes get

raised. this should be the debate how we get the american economy moving forward again. that should have been the debate. when you look this kind of nonsense you see how foolish it is. if we have normal economy we would have 500 billion more in revenue today which would cut the deficit by 40 or 50%. that does it. >> what is the most we can hope for from these guys? they will work over the new year's holiday. i know what you want. you want a flat tax. i know your wish-list but what is the best we can hope for? >> best we can hope for they all realize they will all get the blame. for once, kick the can down the road. you will not reform the tax code in 72 hours between now and new year's. entitle manlts and everything else. put it off for 60 days. begin to do real reformation of the tax code. to allow us to go off the fiscal cliff is preposterous. david: when you say a 60-day hold does that mean the president, the president says we should at least make

sure taxes for those making under $200,000 doesn't go up but everybody else's taxes should go up. >> they should put everything off 60 to 90 days and sit down after new year's and say how we get the economy moving again? i think it will be clear early next year we're starting to slow down. republicans should hammer home about economic growth. most democrats at end of the day would be wailing to have reform of the tax code where you take out prevalences and lower tax rates. david: the president will not -- he did say so you, by the way. said so in july of 2011. give us 1.2 trillion in additional revenues which could be accomplished without hiking tax rates and then in september 2011, he came out with his own budget in which he said the tax system should be simplified and work for all americans with lower individual and corporate tax rates and fewer brackets. the president said that just a year ago. >> ideology has trumped that practicality. brief period of practicality he had after the shellacking he took in the 2011, 2010

lech ounce is. now he is back to the old mode. we're all paying a price for it. david: okay. final question, is there any way we grow with a president who will not sign on to anything but higher tax rates for the rich? >> at best we'll have a stalled or gone 10 miles-an-hour on a super highway. david: you're not investing any of your money. >> i'm long term. i'm not going to try to time this market because when it turns it will be sudden and sharp. don't let emotions get in your way. america always comes through with these things. you may have to wait a year or two. remember the '70s, dreadful decade. we had 15 fold increase in the dow jones industrial average in '80s and 90's. have faith. david: i do have faith. steve forbes, i have falthd for you. thank you for coming in. shibani: great parting words. we'll go live to jeff flock. he is at an oil remeanry with a first-hand look what is driving trading and the prices that we pay. and up next, we get you ready to travel. travelocity senior editor

let's us in on details of new deals for new year's eve and hot spots for the new year

>> i'm here with your fox business brief. the dow was down triple digits after senate majority leader harry reid said that the u.s. is poised to tumble over the fiscal cliff but there was a late-day turnaround on the news that the house will hold a special session on sunday night. directv customers can expect to pay more for their programing packages in 2013. the satellite cable provider is planning to hike prices by an average of 4 1/2% starting february 7th, citing higher programing costs and expects to pay it. v channel owners next year. amazon.com is the place to go for online shopping this holiday season.

according to a new survey from forse amazon took the top spot thanks in part to its wide variety of merchandise and its user-friendly site. that's the latest from fox biz is about business, giving you the power to prosper [ male announcer ] this is the age of knowing what you're made of. why let erectile dysfunction get in your way? talk to your doctor about viagra. ask if your heart is healthy enough for sex. do not ke viagra if you take nitrates for chest pain; it may cause an unsafe drop in blood pressure. side effects include headache, flushing,

upset stomach, and abnormal vision. to avoid long-term injury, seek immediate medical help for an erection lasting more than four hours. stop taking viagra and call your doctor right away if you experience a sudden decrease or loss in vision or hearing. this is the age of taking action. viagra. talk toour doctor. shibani: are you ready? it is almost time to ring in the new year. i know i'm getting ready. but i don't have any plans yet. have you made plans yet? our next guest says it is not too late for any of us to get a last minute bargain getaway. we have courtney scott, senior editor at travelocity. we are open to the idea of allowing me to travel if congress allows me. how are things looking?. >> there are deals out there surprisingly even though it is close to new year's's. las vegas is hot on the top 10 list of travelocity. $305 is the average domestic air fare to las vegas that

is below the national average of $43. there is a great deal with flight, hotel and vacation package. that is the best way to save. book the flight and hotel together. $648 at lvh property. it is one block of the strip. has pools, casino. restaurants are right there. i mean it has everything there. and 100 dining credit for you to have fun while you're there. shibani: that's a great deal. also other party destinations new york city and orlando. what i also liked there were deals in off the beaten path location, austin and new orleans. >> new orleans is so festive year round but especially for new year's. there is a deal in the warehouse district of new orleans at the hotel modern. very chic boutique hotel. complimentary drinks when you get there. the party starts right away the lounge in the hotel is hosting their own new year's eve party. you have it in one place. shibani: you don't have to stumble very far i guess. what about 2013 as we get

into the spring and warmedder season? >> january kicks off wave season for cruises when all the big guns come out to give the best deals for cruises. travelocity has a deal, $699 on norwegian epic cruise. departs on the 12th of january and it is a seven-night cruise, eastern caribbean, bahamas, st. martin, balcony room. if you take a cruise you have to have the balcony. shibani: i think it was a year ago the cost at that conrd cord diao disaster happened. it shook up the industry and. is that behind us now? >> crewses are coming back. cruises make the way to and have the family be together but have separate activities on board. >> fact there are such great deals available now, what does that say about the state of the travel industry? is this normal this time of year or signal perhaps people are not traveling? >> 93 million people traveled according to aaa over the holiday season that

is up 1.6% this year. so it is encouraging people are getting out there, continuing to travel. i think we'll see that in 2013. and i do think that people will be smarter and more creative about finding these deals. mobile apps, mobile tablet and phones. they are really a great place to find exclusive deals. social media. you have to be more savvy about it. shibani: nowhere to look, exactly. >> yep. shibani: thanks a lot, courtney scott with travelocity. thanks for joining us today. david: shibani, coming up wait until you hear about the most expensive parking meters in america and whether they're going to be in a neighborhood near you in 2013. also our own jeff flock live from a oil refinery in illinois. jeff? >> i actually know where those parking meters are and i paid them yesterday but i don't want to spoil the fun. yes, a big refinery back behind me. there is a commodity being traded back there that is already fallen off the fiscal cliff. i'll tell you what it is. you tell them about the parking meters when we come back.

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shibani: we have breaking news. citibank's website and mobile interfaces are currently down. however the website for the credit card business is apparently working. different people have different user experiences. i tried to log on from my computer and i'm okay. mogul website having spotty technical issues. citigroup apparently had technical issues starting yesterday and is telling users to clear their cache and restart the browser. no sign that this is denial of service attack that we've seen on banks before. we'll stay on top of the story. that is something we're watching right now. david: after hitting a two-month high, crude oil ending session lower, as a little optimism creeped into the discussion. you're seeing green arrows there. after the trading ended on the nymex it has gone up about a nickel. shibani: despite the volatility, the move has come on very low volume with november seeing a 6% drop in trading volume.

is oil a good bet right now? jeff flock is live at an exxonmobil joliet refinery in illinois. jeff, what's it looking like over there? >> you pronounced it right. that's amazing. you pronounced it right. that is not easy. that is the refinery back behind me. i will show you something. larry, can you move over and get a shot of the flaring tower? this is something you don't normally get to see. when they have a buildup of pressure and chemicals that is called flaring and they burn off that. you have to report it to the federal government because it is potentially dangerous to the environment. that is nothing like a danger to oil trading that the fiscal cliff is now causing. take a look at prices. you said today, we've got back a little bit and pulled back a little bit after run-up yesterday. this is not a story about price. this is a story about volume, lack of volume. take a look at the volume of

oil trading on the most traded contract, wti, that's west texas intermediate at the cme group, if february of 2011 the volume was 934,000 contracts a day. almost a million contracts a day. by november of this year, a month ago, got half of that. yesterday the volume was 175,000. oil money is on the sidelines. our producer just gave me the latest volume today. trading is going to continue only for another 15 minutes or so. 273,000 contracts traded just today. that is half of the typical volume. people are so scared about the fiscal cliff, this money, david, now is sitting on the sidelines and doing nothing for investors. that is what the fiscal cliff has wrought in the oil market. david: jeff, one of the problems of course when you have volume that is that low, you have a few traders with a lot of money and a lot of influence that can have a very big effect on the market. is some of that what has been going on the past

couple days? >> it is one of the reasons yesterday ran up because you had a couple pieces of news out of the middle east about the kurds in the north cutting off production in iraq, about 180,000 barrels. not that much. and you had military exercises in iran. and all of sudden the market shot up two%. that typically wouldn't drive a market like that. but with such low volatility and liquidity in the market that is what happens. you get wild price swings. a lot of people made a lot of money in oil. those guys are sittings on the sidelines right now because they're worried about what the fiscal cliff has wrought. tomorrow. i have to tell you this. we'll have a ceo on tomorrow who says fiscal cliff, shmisfiscal cliff, that is a bunch crap. you can say that what you want to but it caused a lot of half vock in the market. it caused a lot of people to pull out of the market. david: because of low volume. individual traders can have unequal amount of influence when the volume is this low.

>> that's right. david: thanks very much, jeff. >> appreciate it, david. shibani: we have a close encounter with a few sharks, maybe a bit too close. keep it here on fox business to figure out what we are talking about. ♪ . but we can still help you see. with the fidelity guided portfolio summary, you choose which accounts to track and use fidelity's analytics to spot trends, gain insights, and figure out what you want to do next. all in one place. i'm meredith stoddard and i helped create the fidelity guided portfolio summary. it's one more innovative reason serious investors are choosing fidelity.

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david: time to go "off the desk." to a shopping mall in shanghai. look at this.